Put Me Back Together
by Elivira
Summary: Next to joining Starfleet Jim thinks that befriending the unwilling southern doctor has been the best decision he's ever made. Leonard McCoy is always putting him back together.


Title: Put Me Back Together

Summary: Next to joining Starfleet Jim thinks that befriending the unwilling southern doctor has been the best decision he's ever made. Leonard McCoy is always putting him back together.

Pairing: Gen

Type: Oneshot (Part of my Star Trek series)

Author's Note: Well, I'm finally back with another Star Trek fic. This is set in the same 'verse as my other Star Trek oneshots. They don't really have to be read in order but they can be. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

_My doctor is nice; every time I see him, I'm ashamed of what I think of doctors in general. ~Mignon McLaughlin_

* * *

Jim Kirk is smart, smart enough to know that the only reason Starfleet would take in a kid like him (his criminal record is pretty impressive) is that they want to be able to watch him. They're scared of what he could do if the wrong type of person got ahold of him. Basically, he's a risk and Starfleet wants to make sure he stays on _their_ side. He doesn't particularly like Starfleet but he accepts Captain Pike's offer because he really _does_ want to do something with his life. He thinks maybe this is his chance.

Jim doesn't make friends easily, in fact most of the people he knows it into two categories; the "I–Want–To-Rip–Out–Your–Tongue–And–Shove-It-Down-Your-Throat" people and the (debatably) less violent "I-Want-To-Shove-You-Out-An-Airlock" people. There's something about Leonard McCoy that Jim likes and he's _usually_ pretty good judge of character.

It's a good idea he decides, even after the bastard vomits on him, to have someone to watch his back. There's a little voice in his head that tells him he shouldn't drag anyone into the clusterfuck that is his life, but he shoves it far away and ignores it for the rest of the shuttle ride to San Francisco. He sees something in Leonard McCoy that he sees in himself.

Four months into his first year at the Academy he thanks whoever is listening that he's friends with a doctor when Pike pulls a few strings to make Bones his personal physician. Jim's medical records have holes in them as big as Jupiter and any doctor worth his shit could've filled in the blanks. Jim doesn't want some fancy pants Starfleet doctor blabbing about how he was on Tarsus IV, because doctor-patient confidentiality doesn't mean shit if the information is juicy enough.

Jim just really glad that Bones doesn't ask any questions. He thinks that maybe Bones doesn't want it to be true and has convinced himself that there is another reason for the missing pieces.

Later, when Jim drunkenly tells him about Tarsus IV he thinks he had been right; Bones had ignored the truth because he didn't want to be true. After that, from bar fights to sleep deprivation during third-year finals, Leonard McCoy is there.

He removes Jim's appendix, fixes numerous fractured bones and stitches up Jim's leg after a PT accident. Hell, by the time they're off on their five-year mission McCoy has brought him back from the dead. Next to joining Starfleet Jim thinks that befriending the unwilling southern doctor has been the best decision he's ever made

* * *

"You, are a goddamned idiot!" Jim thinks it's funny that when Bones gets angry, and right now he definitely is, his accent comes that full force. "Jim? Do you have any idea how much of a _moron_ you are?! Genius my ass! What on God's green earth gave you the idea that telling a Klingon he had small dick was a good idea?"

Jim thinks it might be best to let Bones blow off some steam before telling him that he's pretty sure he's got a lung that's been punctured by a broken rib and that Bones can add that to Jim's list of injuries, along with the sprained ankle the doctor is currently fixing. He fights the urge to cough and lets out a wet gag that progresses into a harsh coughing fit. He tastes blood in his mouth and opens it to speak but instead of words a cough spatters blood on Bones's shirt. Bones stops mid-rant and curses.

"Jim?" Bones looks pale and Jim feels the edges of his vision blur as the room tilts nauseatingly. "Dammit Jim!"

* * *

The first time Jim wakes up, to say he feels like shit would be a gross understatement. His foggy stoned brain wonders if shit _can_ feel and he immediately tries to think of something else.

* * *

Jim dreams of purple colored clouds and Bones. With angel wings. Singing the United Federation of Planets Anthem. He doesn't know what Bones gave him but he wouldn't say no to more.

* * *

When Jim wakes up for the second time, he opens his eyes to find Bones slumped on the bed, ass in the chair, sleeping. He's dressed in scrubs, which means that Jim had to have surgery. Jim tries to sit up but doesn't want to wake him and shifts is slightly, feeling the pull of a recently healed incision site.

Bones had been right. Insulting a Klingon had been extremely moronic and, not that he would ever admit it, more so than _most_ of the things he had done within the last year. It doesn't though, rival the time he tried to stowaway on a Klingon ship when he was seventeen. Needless to say, that hadn't ended well. He looks at Bones, who's sleeping pretty soundly despite the uncomfortable looking position, and moves experimentally.

Maybe if he's careful he can get up without waking him, because he knows if Bones does wake up he'll be stuck in bed for the next six hours, he moves slowly and can't help but feel like a child sneaking out in the middle of the night. He finds his clothes by the bed and makes a mental note to berate Bones for changing him into a hospital gown, because damn, that's embarrassing. Jim slips into them and heads for the bridge.

* * *

Jim never explicitly thanks him for saving his life, but MCoy knows that his young friend is grateful. He isn't surprised when he wakes up to find Jim gone and, since no one is around, smiles himself at his predictability. Beaten half to death by a Klingon and up four hours after surgery is just like him.

He finds the captain on the bridge talking amiably with Sulu, a conversation that has too many numbers for even Leonard to follow, and resists the urge to roll his eyes. This is where Jim belongs, there's no doubting that. No matter how many times McCoy has to sew Jim up, one way or another he always ends up the Chair. It's here, on the bridge, that the kid is at home. Home has always been a hard thing for Jim to find and Leonard is glad that he's finally found it.

* * *

The first time Jim comes to him instead of going to the hospital, McCoy, who's known the kids for about three months, but only had a few conversations with him, opens his door and his jaw almost drops. Jim has a split lip, black eye, fractured cheekbone, and is pinching his nose and tipping his head back in a way that Leonard knows is making the blood run down his throat.

"What the hell?"

Jim grins sheepishly. "Would you believe me if I said I fell down the stairs?"

McCoy replies that no, he would not believe him and says, "Get in here."

Later, while running a dermal regenerator over Jim's lacerated cheek, he wonders if this is going to become a common occurrence. He sends him home with ice for his cheek, and the words "Don't do whatever you did again."

The next day one of the female nurses at the Academy's teaching hospital tells a story about how a handsome, blonde haired, blue eyed cadet saved her from a handsy old man and McCoy knows that Jim won't listen to his advice.

That is the first many times that Jim goes to him for help instead of the hospital and Leonard feels strange sense of pride. When he is told that he's been assigned as Jim Kirk's personal physician he can't find it himself to care that he's a surgeon and doesn't usually do that kind of thing. He ignores the holes in Jim's medical history and tries not to think about what they mean.

* * *

McCoy knows with absolute certainty that Jim Kirk will be a great captain the first time he watches Jim command a crew in a combat simulation. He sees the ease at which Jim gives orders and plans tactics and is not surprised when his team comes out victorious. Jim doesn't know it, but he is the ability to gain followers like flies to horseshit, and Leonard McCoy is happy to be the first of many.

Even if you couldn't pay him to admit it.

* * *

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed. Please, I absolutely love comments so comment. If you like it please go ahead and check out the other fics I've written for this 'verse!


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